A crowd of men, women and children wearing ruby red stilettos teetered along 14th Avenue to raise awareness and funds to support SafeSpace during the 12th annual Indian River County Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event, held in conjunction with Main Street Vero Beach’s October Downtown Friday celebration.

Each painful step taken during the “symbolic mile” walk was taken in support of individuals suffering from domestic violence, with a goal toward encouraging meaningful conversation regarding the fact that the issue exists everywhere, even in our community.

Proceeds from the event support the nonprofit’s programs and services, all of which aid victims of domestic violence on the Treasure Coast. Federal, state and local grants cover just 50 percent of the agency’s expenses, so funding is vital.

“Supporting SafeSpace is very, very important because we’re talking about victims of domestic violence, whose lives they save and change every day,” said event emcee Hamp Elliott, decked out once again in Pippi Longstocking-style socks and a red tutu to complement his red stilettos.

“One in three women suffer domestic abuse. One in four men suffer domestic abuse. It happens more often than you can believe,” he added.

According to the SafeSpace website, four women are murdered by their partners every day, and one in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence every year, with 90 percent of those children witnessing that violence.

SafeSpace was founded in Indian River County in 1979 and 10 years later expanded to include St. Lucie and Martin counties. During the more than 40 years SafeSpace has served as a haven for victims of domestic abuse, it has provided nearly 500,000 safe nights of shelter to more than 40,000 victims and children on the Treasure Coast, 776 in the past year alone.

“This is really fun, but it’s for a serious cause. We want to remember that domestic violence impacts everybody in all demographic regions. It doesn’t matter what your economic status is, your ethnic background, your sexual orientation, or the neighborhood that you live in. You know somebody that’s been impacted by domestic violence,” said Jennifer Fox, who became SafeSpace CEO in July.

“We recognize that people that are in these situations don’t feel like they have any power or control over their lives. SafeSpace wants to come alongside them, make sure that they can regain their power, and control in a safe way. We want to offer them those tools so that they’re able to do that,” she added.

The nonprofit seeks to save and change lives by providing adult victims of domestic violence and their children with intervention, prevention and advocacy services.

SafeSpace is the only state-certified domestic violence agency on the Treasure Coast. It provides emergency shelter, victim advocates, legal assistance and educational programs to help victims break free from the cycle of domestic violence.

For more information, visit SafeSpaceFL.org.

Photos by Joshua Kodis